Trading My Hand for a New Set of Cards
by Col - Remy's Girl
Summary: My first XMen fic, please be kind. Remy gets a surprise visit from someone he hasn't seen in years. Why? Only time will tell. [Romy][Angst][Lots of fun]


**A few notes: I am new to writing X-Men fiction, this is my first ever. Also I have never read the comics, only summaries of the comics, and so most of my knowledge of the X-Men comes from the 90s cartoon series as well as a lot of research done on Wikipedia.**

**That said, I would like to remind my audience that since it is a fanfiction I have taken a few liberties, as you will see below. I don't want people causing a fuss because there's ::gasp:: a character in the story that does not appear in /any/ of the X-Men universes.**

**With that in mind, please enjoy the first chapter of my first X-Men fanfiction.**

**Chapter One  
**

xXx**_  
_**

**_Life is like a game of poker. You take the cards you're dealt, try to trade in the bad ones for better ones, and sometimes you win and other times you fail miserably and lose all your chips. Sometimes you win big. Sometimes you wish you were never playing at all.  
_**

xXx**_  
_**

The bike thrummed and rumbled beneath him, seeming to be nearly a living entity, rather than simply a means of getting from Point A to Point B. A song he'd heard on the radio earlier that day ran through his head, blocking out the rest of his thoughts, and for that he was grateful. If he were any good at singing, he thought maybe he'd sing the song to himself, maybe scream it at the world.

_I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram / On my silver-black Phantom bike / Oh when the metal is hot / And the engine is hungry / And we're all about to see the light / Nothing ever grows in this rotten old hole / And everything is stunted and lost / And nothing really rocks / And nothing really rolls / And nothing's ever worth the cost….._

"And I know dat I'm damned if I never get out," he muttered, wishing he could light up a cigarette, wishing he could fill his mouth and lungs with the sweet taste of tobacco and smoke. Maybe if the only thing he tasted was smoke, he could forget about her…and her taste…the way her lips felt against his…

_And I know that I'm damned if I never get out / And baby I'm damned if I do / But with every other beat I got left in this heart / I know I'd never be damned with you…_

"I know I'd never be damned wit you." He winced. It wasn't that easy. That was the problem. He was damned with her, without her. All he really wanted was her, and that was exactly what he couldn't have. With unshed tears burning in the corners of his eyes, he pulled the bike off on a side road, a long and winding country road that he'd traveled many times before, always when he was feeling like this. After about ten minutes he found what he was looking for. With a sigh, he cut the bike's motor and kicked the stand, jumped off and went to sit where he'd sat before, by the edge of a lake.

The lake was almost green today, like her eyes. Emerald. It hurt to think about. She'd avoided him since their return from the Savage Land. There had been a strange machine there, capable of shutting off a mutant's powers, and he had been able to hold her in his arms, kiss her briefly…and he longed for it again.

**..."Gambit never told nobody dis before," he murmured, trying to soothe the terror in her eyes. "Gambit loves you." And then he pulled her closer and kissed her, and she had returned the kiss eagerly, and then Sinister had separated them and before they could touch again, there had been the battle, and the machine that stopped her from sapping his power was destroyed, and he could never touch her again...**

xXx

She hadn't meant to be avoiding him. She really hadn't. It was that there was so much to do, and so little time in which to do it. Besides, she was sure he understood….She hoped he understood….He wouldn't understand. Typical man, he'd be hurt and mope and then go drinking or smoking to relieve whatever pain he thought she was causing him. Which she wasn't. Not intentionally, at least.

He'd left earlier, on his bike, without even saying goodbye. She wasn't sure whether she was aggravated, hurt, annoyed, angry, or amused. She could follow him, talk to him, but somehow she thought that would only cause him even more pain. Because…she'd try to explain and he wouldn't want to listen, and then he'd try to shrug everything off like it was nothing and that would only hurt her…

Suddenly the words to a song she'd heard on the television earlier sprang into her mind:

_I would do anything for love / Oh I would do anything for love / Yes I would do anything for love / But I won't do that…_

The words were eerily fitting. She wanted to do so much for him…but what she could do was limited to a few kind words and no more. She'd do anything for him, but the one thing the two of the wanted…a normal relationship…she'd never be able to give him.

xXx

The sun sank lower and lower on the horizon. She had to get there fast, before night fell. She had to find…him. "I'm coming," she whispered, squeezing every last ounce of speed she could manage from her old bike. "I'm coming t' find ya, big brother."

xXx

The sun was gone. Remy stared at the darkening sky, aware that he should probably he headed back to the mansion, and not caring that he was going to get the third degree from Logan. And Scott. And Jean. Storm wouldn't question him, Jubilee would wonder where he'd gone, and Rogue…Rogue would rip him a new asshole, no questions asked.

With a heavy sigh he stood and turned his back on the lake, which was rapidly fading from emerald to inky black. There was still time for a drink before he went back. Some booze, a cigarette or two, and maybe he'd finally be able to forget the taste of her lips, the scent of her breath.

xXx

"What do you mean, he's not here?" the newcomer asked.

Jean Grey sighed. "He's not here. I don't think I can put it any more simply than that. You still haven't told us who you are, by the way, and I don't intend to probe your mind to find out."

The newcomer, still clad in her biker gear, swept the helmet from her head to reveal dark reddish-brown hair pulled messily into a ponytail, framing a face that seemed oddly familiar. Her eyes were closed and when she opened then Jean gasped. Red irises on black. "You can call me…Lady," she smiled. "And if you'll excuse me, I'd like to find somet'ing to change into…black leather just isn't my style."

Jean stared after the girl as she took her leave. Her face, her hair…her accent…those eyes… "Gambit," Jean breathed. "But…he never…wait!" But it was too late. Lady was gone.

xXx

This place was boring. So unlike the bayou. So unlike the swamp she'd grown up in, the swamp she'd called home for many a year. The air was dry, and stale. Lady needed air that had more personality, air that was more alive.

She left the mansion where Remy was supposed to be, wondering where he really was. A bar, probably, with his nose buried in a glass of whiskey. She decided she was going to find him once and for all.

It was a power she rarely used anymore, one she hadn't used since he had left all those long years ago. Like her brother, Lady could tap into the potential energy of an object, turn it into kinetic energy, and more or less cause it to explode. But she also had an uncanny knack, when they were younger, for finding him no matter how he tried to hide. It was a talent that seemed to work only on mutants who shared the ability to manipulate energy in some way; she'd be useless trying to find Jean or Logan or Dr. McCoy.

Closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind, she spread her conciousness out, searching, searching…there were several mutants with energy-based abilities in the mansion that she picked up on right away, but she quickly pushed them from her mind and reached even further out into the surrounding city. There were more mutants out there than she even thought possible, some of them mutants whose powers hadn't manifested yet, others who kept their heads low and tried to stay out of trouble. And somewhere in the middle of it all, like a beacon of light, was Remy LeBeau. "You ole Swamp Rat," Lady grinned. "I'm comin' to getcha…ready or not."


End file.
